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27 august 2002
washington
foe us
GLOBAL WARMING VICTIMS SUE THE UNITED
STATES FOR ILLEGALLY FUNDING FOSSIL FUEL
PROJECTS
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, and
City of Boulder Team Up to Bring Suit
WASHINGTON - August 27, 2002 - Friends of
the Earth (FoE), Greenpeace and the City of
Boulder, Colorado filed a lawsuit today in
the U.S. District Court in San Francisco on
behalf of their members and citizens who are
victims of global warming. The suit has been
filed against two U.S. government agencies -
the Export Import Bank (ExIm) and the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
(OPIC). Ex-Im and OPIC are taxpayer funded
agencies that provide financing and loans to
U.S. corporations for overseas projects that
commercial banks deem too risky.
This legal action - the first of its kind
- alleges that OPIC and Ex-Im illegally
provided over $32 billion in financing and
insurance for oil fields, pipelines and
coal-fired power plants over the past ten
years without assessing their contribution to
global warming and their impact on the U.S.
environment as required under key provisions
of the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). NEPA requires all federal agencies to
conduct an environmental assessment of
programs and project specific decisions
having a significant effect on the human
environment; however, according to the
complaint, OPIC and ExIm have refused to
review their programs' and fossil fuel
projects' contributions to global warming
under NEPA.
FoE and Greenpeace members involved in the
suit include a North Carolina couple who fear
their retirement property will be lost to
storm surges, erosion and the rising sea
level; one of the largest maple syrup
producers in Vermont who believes his
business will be ruined as maple trees
disappear from the area; and a marine
biologist whose life's work is in jeopardy
because coral reefs he has spent a lifetime
studying and enjoying are disappearing at an
alarming rate due to bleaching from rising
ocean temperatures.
"We're nervous about climate change-if we
have no maples, we have no farm income and
the value of our land will be devastated,"
said FoE/Greenpeace members Arthur and Anne
Berndt. Regarding the state of the coral
reefs off the Florida Keys, FoE member Dr.
Phillip Dustan said, "It's tantamount to
visiting Sequoia National Forest and finding
90% of the trees either dead or on the
ground."
FoE, Greenpeace, and the City of Boulder
view this suit as a critical first step
toward compelling the Bush administration to
take action against global warming, and to
protect people from its dangerous effects.
After the city council voted to join the
lawsuit, Boulder Mayor Will Toor said, "All
of the work that the city of Boulder does to
maintain the quality of life for our
residents will be negatively impacted by the
detrimental effects of climate change. We
believe that this lawsuit is one way force
the federal government to start paying
attention to this critical issue."
For more information, including a complete
list of plaintiffs, visit
www.climatelawsuit.org
contact:
Mark Helm, Friends of the Earth, Director,
Media Relations, 202-783-7400 x102
Gary Skulnik, Greenpeace Media Officer,
202-319-2492
Amy Mueller, Acting Director of Public
Affairs, City of Boulder,303-441-3005
Ron Shems, Attorney for the plaintiffs,
Shems Dunkiel & Kassel, PLLC
802-860-1003
Outside Legal Expert for Comment: John
Echeverria, Georgetown University
Environmental Law Institute Executive
Director, 202-662-9850 x3
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